New Member2.

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Stealing wood in the United States could be hazardous to your health. I own a Mossberg 12 gauge, loaded w/ 00 buckshot...courtesy of the 2nd Amendment. Around here, most people who would be heating with wood, also own firearms....

Feeling the Heat2.

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Not sure how that system works. Do they expect people to come knock on the door and pay them? Do they have an honor system with a coffee can laying out on the stack?

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Similar - I have a friend that sells sweet corn from a wagon on a corner. A steel box bolted to the frame for payment. Total honor system. He says that frequently he has over payment. Somebody(s) paying more (probably due to a "change" issue) instead of cheating the system. Note: this is a very rural area, not a high population. That "may" have something to do with it. I am not trying to offend anyone, but rural living seems to breed a different culture than high population areas, IMHO.

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Coffee Can!! LOL! I helped my kid build a small cart that sits in front of our house. He sells split firewood from it on the "honor system" and refills it about once a week in the fall. There is a small can that has a hole in it with the sides screwed on (I'm sure you could take the lid off in about 10 seconds without a screwdriver). He has sold firewood from in front of our house for the last 2 years. Last fall he made about $300.

As far as we can tell, he hasn't been ripped off yet. And yes, we live in a pretty populated area, just north of a big hospital. A pretty fair amount of traffic goes down our street.

People in our neighborhood think it's cool that the honor system still works.

Minister of Fire2.

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We used to can and freeze a lot of vegetables. A local farmer fills the back of his pickup truck with carrots and has a stash of paper grocery bags and parks the filled truck near a local gas station for the day with a sign "$2 / bag full. Drop the money in the passenger window." Every time we went there his truck interior was littered with $1 bills.

No problem with wood theives here - most of our neighbors are too yuppie to burn wood - they just open their wallets to pay the gas bill.

Minister of Fire2.

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During the oil run-up of 08 we had thieves working the oil tanks. This was before I got a wood stove (one of the reasons I decided to get a wood stove) and I used to worry that my tanks would get hit. Local rural post office got hit twice; I heard about people's houses freezing up because they thought they had plenty of oil, and got drained. Some oil thieves were targeting houses that were standing empty with For Sale signs on them. They had a tanker rigged up to look like a delivery truck that could suck a tank dry in five-ten minutes. Someone caught them in the act, and held a gun on them. Made them take off their boots and pants and lay down to wait for the troopers to arrive. It was -30F. :smirk: Now there's a you-tube photo op . . .

I would say that the law would take offense to your nicking the criminals, but they probably wouldn't mind if you put a few holes in their rigs. I know I'd be tempted.

I heard another story about some miners that had a rig set up with heavy-duty springs for oil theft, and were keeping their mining operation going with stolen oil. They got a five-year conviction. I thought it a pity that they didn't tell all of their victims where the mine was located, and let them have at the equipment while the boys were locked up. I am not proud of this quality in my character. [hangs head]

I worry a bit about my stacks of wood, and have positioned them so that the stuff that's seasoning for the next few years will be hard to get at once the snow arrives. I'm getting some cut today (hooray!) that will be stored across my back porch, visible from the road, and yes, I worry a bit. But they would also be visible if they were trying to steal it. There are so many people here with wood piles that I think it's more unlikely--too much work for most thieves--the big money is in the quick hit for oil theft. Camera systems can be set up to track them, I suppose, if you don't mind feeling like you're living in a convenience store or a bank.

I read on here about someone who caught a thief in the act who had the quick thinking and nerve to say, "Uh, is this where you pick up the free firewood?" He got away with all his bodily parts . . .

relatively-civil, firewood-buying, soapstone-stove-burning buster
Those details bore the living crap out of just about everyone I know. Here, not so much. PapaDave
Wood heat is cheap. Wood heat addiction is about four dollars a year cheaper than a crack addiction. BBart
This site has given me a place to spend hours reading about how others stack wood when I should be out stacking wood. Matt